Wednesday, January 11, 2017

2016, Final Post

November

What. A. Month.

It
started out with a bang! We headed up to NYC for my coworker Alexa's
wedding. It was a stunning wedding. She looked beautiful, the flowers
were out-of-this-world and it was just all very fancy! Our boss was
there as well and it was great to hang out with her on a different
level. We stayed with Bill's brother and his partner. The day after
the wedding, we got an early lunch at Totto Ramen (delicious, btw) and
then walked the High Line. Neither Bill nor I had done that before, so
it was a neat experience. Afterwards, we shopped at Chelsea Market. We
packed up and headed to our bus only to find out that I had the time
wrong and it wasn't leaving for 2 more hours so we met back up with the
Mikes for pizza.

Then, 3 days later, Trump was
elected. I don't want to get too into politics on this blog and I am
nervous to so outwardly display my viewpoints, but this is something
that I cannot stay silent on. The day started out so promisingly. Bill and I voted together in the morning, our first time ever voting together, let alone as husband and wife! Then that night, we were in utter shock and disbelief. We
were truly blindsided. I guess it's a result of living in the bubble of
DC, but I'm not kidding when I saw we were 100% gobsmacked. I woke up
that morning so excited that Hillary was going to be the president. I
know she had it in the bag. I thought there was no question. My friends
were nervous and I told them not to worry, that there was no way she
could lose. I have never been so wrong. This isn't the first time that
my candidate has lost the election, but it's the first time I have felt
like this. I stayed up most of the night watching the results. I
remember going into the living room around 10pm to tell Bill that I knew
in my heart that she was going to lose. For the first time that night,
I felt fear and doom. I dozed off around 2 and woke up to learn that
she had just conceded. I woke up the next morning with a sick feeling in
my stomach that didn't go away for days. The city was solemn. So many
people on the metro looked the way I felt. How we could elect someone
like him is just beyond me. I am saddened by our country and for our
country, as well as the world. It's definitely a new era we are in
now. I cried in my office as I watched Hillary's concession speech. It
took me a long time to return to feeling normal. I have a new
perspective now. I know that our country was built on principles so
that something like this can't break us. I also know that he lost the
popular vote. The people who spoke out in the days after the election
restored my faith in humanity, people like Senator Cory Booker,
celebrities like Connie Britton and Lin-Manuel Miranda, my little sister
who has made me so proud during this election cycle, friends and
acquaintances on Facebook and in personal conversations. I know that we
will come out of this on the other side and that we will be stronger
than ever. We just have to take action and fight for what we believe. I
haven't figured out what this means for me yet, but I will.

The election dampened the rest of the month for us, but we still had fun!

We moved on Veteran's Day to our new apartment. It was initially
very exciting but we quickly noticed a bad odor. We are still working
on coming up with a solution.

Hannah & I went to
the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. It was ok, but not nearly
as good as in 2012. It was way more of them just half-heartedly dancing
around on the floor than actual gymnastics.

Hannah
& I went to Oyster Riot for the 4th year and I ate more oysters than
ever!! One of my coworkers and her friends were there as well as BJ, so
we all hung out in one big group. We were all low-key from the
election and I couldn't drink much because I had to head to the airport
at 5am!

I flew to Columbus the next day for a weekend
shopping trip with my mom, her sisters, my sister and girl cousins. It
was a whirlwind of a trip but I had a blast, especially with my sister
and mom. Kyle joined us in the evening on Sunday and it's always great
to have him around.

The month ended with our very first
Thanksgiving as a married couple! I prepared the whole meal and I must
say, it was a success! I think I'll detail everything in a later post,
but I made turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, crescent
rolls, green bean casserole and candied carrots. It was just the 2 of
us. We ate on our new kitchen table and put the bittersweet my dad
mailed me in the center. It was low-key, private, and perfect.

I
went Black Friday shopping the next day at Pentagon City and got an
awesome fur coat. The next day, we went to Leesburg Outlets with Johnny
and found even better deals!

December

Finally, we made it to the last month of a long year!

I
turned 31 on the 3rd. A few days earlier, I noticed that Kip Moore was
playing a concert on the 2nd in Silver Spring. I mentioned it to Bill
and he bought us tickets for my birthday! It was an awesome show. He
played all of my favorite songs and there was great energy. Afterwards,
Bill took me to Dave & Buster's for the first time. Our dinner was
terrible, but that's to be expected, I gather. We went to buy our
cards to play games and I looked to my left and who was standing there
but Kip Moore himself!! I nudged Bill and couldn't believe my eyes.
Then he came over right next to me to buy his card and I couldn't
help myself - I told him that I was trying to be cool, but just had to
tell him how amazing his show was. He immediately hugged me, said thank
you and then introduced himself to us. We left him after that and we
crossed paths a few times during the night, but I didn't bug him
anymore. I was acting low key but on the inside, I was freaking out!
WHAT A COOL WAY TO START MY 31ST YEAR, I MUST SAY!!! When I got home, I got another great surprise, an Edible Arrangement and balloons from Amy!

The
next day was my actual birthday and I forced my friends to go to the
pop-up Christmas bar, Miracle on 7th Street. We waited about 2 hours to
get in, but it was well worth the wait! There were 3 separate
bars, decorated to the nines with Christmas regalia! The drinks were
interesting and delicious - I tried a hot chocolate one, a pine drink
and one called "Gretchen, Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen." The next day, I got another surprise in the mail -- a new coat from my Mom!

That
Monday, I had to travel to Columbia, SC for work. I traveled with a
colleague and we had a great time! We stayed at a cool inn and got 3
delicious Southern meals.

Back in DC, Bill and I met up with one of my former teachers from high school. He now works for the Vatican embassy, which is awesome. We had a great time catching up! I hope to meet up with him more regularly. We also went to dinner with one of my old bosses from the dog daycare who recently moved back to town.

We went to 2 Christmas
parties, one at our friend Dalton's and one at BJ's, aka our old house.
We had a great time at both, but it was so weird to be back in our old
house! There was a brief moment where I was overwhelmed with nostalgia
and missed it, but I got over it.

Right before the end of the year, Bill bought a new car for us! He got a silver Subaru Forrester and I absolutely love it. He originally wanted to get a pickup truck, so I was pleasantly surprised with his choice. It has a lot of cool bells and whistles including a moon roof, backup camera, and heated seats.

We decided to do
Christmas separately with our own families this year. Bill left early
and I was in DC for a few days without him. I used the time to finish
our wedding thank-yous and Christmas cards. It took hours upon hours
over several days, but I finally finished them and it felt so freeing to
finally get them out in the mail.

I headed home to
Ohio a couple of days before Christmas. Dad picked me up from the airport and then took me to lunch to celebrate my birthday! We had a great time. He gave me a huge bag of presents and we played some Keno and ate at Rooster's.

While home, I worked a few days,
helped take care of my brother who is recovering from ACL surgery,
wrapped gifts and helped mom make some snacks for Christmas Eve. On
Friday, we had Christmas at Nanny's house. I think that she liked all
of my gifts! I got to see baby Zaiden.

On Christmas Eve,
we had our traditional snack party and read the Polar Express as
always. I wrapped gifts until 3AM and then I literally could not fall
asleep. I laid in bed the entire night until I watched the sun come up. The upshot of this is that I finally finished Nashville. What a great show that is! I'm not sure how I feel about the current season, though...

Christmas
Day was great. Everyone loved my presents, and I loved mine! My top
from each person were: from Mom, a tie between my Fitbit and mermaid
blanket (that she knitted!), from Dad, a cool picture of my
great-grandma and chocolate caramels, from Abbie, a cool Starbucks mug,
and from Davey, a lap-counter for swimming. My top gifts given, in my
opinion, were: Mom, a coach purse, Dad, a silver flask with a golfer on
it from 1983, Abbie, A Women's Place is in the House & Senate
sweatshirt and Davey, an authentic Hawaiian shirt that Tom Selleck wore
in Magnum, PI. Bill and I also gave everyone pictures from the wedding
and a really cool photobook to our parents.

I ventured out to the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale and got 5 candles. Grocery shopped with mom.

On
Friday, I met Amy for lunch at Fusian in Dayton! It was SO tasty. We
went to Starbucks after and exchanged gifts. We always get each other
the perfect gifts! Bill arrived that night and it was so good to see him again after so long!!

Family
friends arrived on NYE and we played games and had tasty snacks. Kyle
came as well, as usual. We wrote up our resolutions and this time, Bill
joined! We burnt them in the fireplace as per tradition. We spent a
lot of time working on them this year, which I will tell you about
soon! The bad part of NYE is that I got a horrible migraine halfway
through. I spent most of the time laying in my parent's bed miserable,
but it was great to be surrounded by friends and family.

Well,
there you have it! Our year in a (really large) nutshell. 2016 was
certainly one for the record books and I'm looking forward to see what
2017 will bring us.

Note: the below collage contains a few more pics from the rest of the year that I found and wanted to include.

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